Current iMacs Have Delayed Shipping Times, As Lower-Priced Models May Arrive at WWDC

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is coming up soon and shipping times for the new iMac orders are being advertised at 3-5 business days- which supports rumors of lower-priced options coming soon. Currently, Apple’s 21.5 and 27-inch iMacs both have delayed shipping. Usually, new Macs are shipped within 24 hours of order including the MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and MacBook Air. The iMac was also shipping within 24 hours this weekend, but the company is currently seeing delays and the wait is even longer for those who are looking to upgrade from the base configurations.

Authorized Apple resellers are also seeing limited iMac inventory right before WWDC. Amazon is all sold out of the base-line 21.5 and 27-inch models, relying on third-party vendors who only have a few units left. MacMall is also left with a few units of the 2.9-gigahertz 21.5-inch model and 3.4-gigahertz 27-inch model. The timing comes around the same time analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities revealed last month that Apple plans on launching a new low-cost iMac model in the near future. He stated that the cheaper iMac allows the company to better compete with other all-in-one desktop makers like Lenovo and HP. This will give Apple a stronger position in growing competitive markets like China. According to Kuo, lower priced iMacs should see an increase in sales by 23% this year, which totals to 4.8 million units.

Apple has already cut the prices on it’s MacBook Air models last month, making it the most affordable mass-market notebook in the history of Apple. If they decide to launch a cheaper iMac next week, 2014 could shape up in becoming the year of the cheaper Mac.